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Let’s Talk Nutritional Supplements

in Food, Life

At this point in my life, I don’t have much time for magazines. I used to subscribe to tons, but decided to cut back when stacks of unread magazines started to take over my bedside table. For the past year, I have subscribed to two magazines, US Weekly (What? It’s my Friday night mindless reading ritual and has been for years. I sense judgement…) and Martha Stewart Living. I read both cover-to-cover; well, I actually read US Weekly three-quarters of the way until it gets to all the television/music/movie reviews and 49 diet pill ads, but what I’m saying is I (mostly) enjoy them.

About a month ago, I got an email advertising a special on Martha Stewart’s magazine Whole Living. It was, like, 10 bucks for the entire year so I subscribed.

(See? No bedside stack!)

I just can’t get enough of this magazine. I read every printed word on every single page. It’s totally holistic wellness and beauty and food, but not over the top. Love it, and I’m pretty much on board with most of it, except I’ve noticed lots of advertising for vitamins and nutritional supplements. (I even saw one for a pill that supposedly boosts collagen production. What the what?) I don’t take any nutritional supplements regularly. Occasional zinc for colds, probiotics, and chia seeds in my smoothies are the only supplements I use, but not on a daily basis. However, I am intrigued by Omega-3 supplements in pill form and have heard a lot about sea buckthorn for skin, hair and nails.

Should I incorporate nutritional supplements into my daily regimen? Do you? If so, what do you take?

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38 comments

  1. Leslie Capron

    March 12, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    I don’t subscribe to US Magazine, but I am on usmagazine.com and people.com everyday. It’s a sickness really. (On the plus side, I always win the celebrity-baby-name game at baby showers!). Until recently, the only supplements I ever took were pre-natal vitamins when I was pregnant, but on a whim a few months ago I bought some Emergen-C when I thought I was getting a cold and now I swear by it. I have a glass everyday. I really makes me feel better – especially after I work out. And its a great hangover helper too when I’ve had one too many glasses of wine.

    • whoorl

      March 12, 2012 at 6:11 pm

      Love Emergen-C. We should buy stock in the company with the amount we go through in the winter…never thought to drink one post-workout. Genius!

  2. tracy

    March 12, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    lady! my coworker asked me if i take supplements today and i was like uhhhh no! Now that I’m reading this tonight, I feel like it’s a sign. Must take them now!

  3. Leksaker

    March 13, 2012 at 6:45 am

    No, I don’t. And I think that if you have a healthy diet that should be enough actually. The only thing that I would be interested in trying is probiotics, so maybe I’ll do that some day.

  4. Martha

    March 13, 2012 at 6:54 am

    I will fourth or fifth the recommendation for Nordic Naturals. It is what my midwife recommended when I was pregnant. I bought the strawberry flavored ones so that my fish burps weren’t so fishy :) I’m going to try the freezer trick next time I”m pregnant! I really like Sisu vitamins, also recommended by my midwife. My sister found the iron in multivitamins gave her a stomach-ache but Sisu’s iron is vegetable form and is easier to absorb. All this being said, I don’t take vitamins or supplements when I’m not pregnant or breastfeeding. I feel very healthy with my regular diet and am rarely sick, so I haven’t felt the need.

  5. Rafaella Rauber Kopper

    March 13, 2012 at 10:55 am

    Hi! I take Biotin (for hair, nails and skin), carthamus oil (it is great for your body, helps to low fat belly etc) and Hyaluronic Acid – Hydraplenish contains the patented BioCell Collagen II.

  6. Abby K

    March 14, 2012 at 12:11 am

    I started getting serious about my vitamin intake when we decided wanted to get pregnant. My vitamin taking before then had been very random and misguided. After doing lots of research and consulting with my doctor I came to the conclusion that not all supplements are created equal. It’s not just about what is on the ingredients list for the supplement, it is more about the quality those ingredients and if your body will absorb them. With many lower quality supplements your body doesn’t absorb anything in them so the money you spend on them literally gets flushed down the toilet! Anyway after my research I settled on these supplements based on their quality and my current life stage.

    Rainbow Light Complete Prenatal System (multivitamin)
    Kartzinel Health for Probiotics (because they don’t need to be refrigerated!)
    Moxxor for Omega 3 (One of several good choices)
    ProThera for Vitamin D3 (5,000 I.U. – the more the merrier on this one!)
    After pregnancy I’ll most likely go with Kartzinel Health Vitamins & Minerals as a multivitamin

    Hopefully this helps any want to be Mom’s out there!

  7. regan

    March 14, 2012 at 10:08 am

    I take prenatal vitamins (not pregnant, not planning on getting pregnant, I just love what they do for my hair and nails), glucosamine for my knees while I train for long races, B12, and if one of the kids has a runny nose or general kid funk, I toss in an Emergen-C packet to keep me well.

  8. Jamie

    March 14, 2012 at 11:10 am

    I used to take the daily combo vita-pack from GNC – the woman’s wellbeing hair/skin/nails,I think. Plus a calcium supplement b/c I hate milk and eschew most dairy just out of personal taste & preference. Now I just take Trader Joe’s prenatals (I am not pregnant!) b/c they’re amazing for shiny, healthy hair and nails. I also love Kirkland/Costco brand chocolatey calcium chews. Yum.

  9. Stacey

    March 15, 2012 at 8:56 am

    I take Omega 3 vitamins as well.. I have extremely dry eyes and that seems to help big time. All the rest of it’s benefits are just a plus. My boyfriend is Irish so the brand I like the most is called Seven Seas, he buys them for me because they’re not massive like all the ones I’ve seen in America and I’ve never had the burps from them either.

  10. Meg

    March 16, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    Okay first it is so funny to be sitting here reading your blog and then your commercial pops up. The timing was too perfect…love it! This post totally has me wanting to give the nordic naturals a try. I’m curious though if anyone’s had any tummy issues with the omega 3. I’ve got a super sensitive stomach and vitamins tend to make me nauseous.

  11. Sarah

    March 17, 2012 at 7:27 am

    As far as brands go, I like New Chapter. I’ve tried a few different brands over the years, and are a bit irritating to my stomach. (Sorry. TMI?) I tried New Chapter after seeing their prenatal vitamins featured in a GOOP newsletter. Maybe it’s cliche and easy to pass along whatever Gwyneth recommends, but she’s quite often right, y’know? Anyway, this was a great recommendation. No matter which ones I’ve tried, the pills are easy to swallow, gentle on my system, have an ingredients label that I can comprehend, and they seem to get great reviews on Amazon, too.

    Thanks for the sea buckthorn tip, by the way!

  12. lindsey

    April 3, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    So I’m a grad student getting my phd in pathology, specifically studying cancer. I took a cancer biology class all about cancer treatment and prevention. As people mentioned above, it’s best to get your vitamins from eating well and your body may not absorb all of what is in the supplement. There have also been some conflicting studies because when it comes to trying to determine if something is preventative, you have to look at a very very large group of people, and that’s expensive and difficult and often results come from round about data. (A study looking mainly at calcium supplements found that taking vitamin D daily reduces your risk of cancer (a statistically significant result).)

    bottom line: take a daily vitamin and an additional vitamin D (preferably at different meals)